Insight & Analysis - May 19, 2021

South Africa Outperformed Other African Economies in Q1 2021 – UN

May 19, 2021

3 min read

According to the latest UN report, South Africa performed relatively better than other major economies in terms of imports and exports in Q1 2021, while global trade recovery from the COVID-19 crisis reached a record high during the same time. The report also lists India and China as to perfomers.

According to the UNCTAD’s (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) Global Trade Update released on Wednesday, the volume of global trade in goods and services increased by around 4% quarter-over-quarter and 10% year-over-year in Q1 2021.

“Importantly, global trade in Q1 2021 was higher than pre-crisis levels, with an increase of about 3 per cent relative to Q1 2019′, the report stated, noting that the trade recovery in Q1 2021 is still being guided by East Asian economies’ strong export results. Trade in goods was higher in Q1 2021 than it was before the pandemic, but trade in services is still well below normal. Global COVID-19-related commodity exchange remained high during the first quarter of 2021.

Increased Hope for Global Economic Recovery

UNCTAD reports that the import and export trends for some of the world’s major trading economies highlights a continued pattern of recovery for Q1 2021. And trade in major economies improved from the fall of 2020, with a few exceptions. The big rises, however, are attributed to the low base for 2020, and trade in many of the major economies was still below average for 2019. The report also states that the stronger recovery trend for good as compared to service is common to all major economies.

“China, India and South Africa have fared relatively better than other major economies during Q1 2021. China’s exports, in particular, registered a strong increase not only from 2020 averages but also in relation to pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, exports from the Russian Federation remained well below 2019 averages,” it stated.

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